Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Caitlyn Jenner

The overwhelmingly positive support for Caitlyn Jenner makes me hopeful. But since I'm a blogger, I found something negative to complain about. Yesterday, I overheard a conversation about Caitlyn's transition that riled me up (which is easy to do, if you know me at all). Some of the things I heard were:

"Why does he have to be a sexy woman? Why can't he just be a woman?"

Why can't you just eat a cookie and not tell everyone how bad you feel about yourself afterwards? Same reason. Women, whether they be trans-women or not, are held to unreasonable expectations of beauty. That is part of the reason you not-so-quietly talk about your weight and your diet and how your clothes fit and what your hair looks like to everyone in the office and sometimes even strangers. That is why women are sexed up on the covers of magazines. That is why none of us can just be a woman. So, of course, because Caitlyn Jenner is a woman, she will be treated like one. This is something to applaud and also to examine critically. Gender identity is tied to gender equality. Let's not forget that at the very end of the 2020 interview, Diane Sawyer quoted one of Jenner's former Olympic competitors, saying that he supported Jenner, "but wait, does that mean I was beat by a girl?" LOL, right?

"Why can't he just do it quietly?"

Well first of all, why can't you do anything quietly? I ask myself that question every day when I'm sitting in my office listening to you complain about how busy you are as you online shop. Second of all, Caitlyn Jenner deserves much praise for not transitioning quietly, for helping to revolutionize how we treat and talk about transgender people and gender in general. Way to go, Caitlyn. What are you doing to change the world?